Artist Spotlight: Fluencie

Picture, for a moment, your life without computers. Scary, right? Computers nowadays can perform tasks that wouldn’t have been imaginable 30 years ago. Countless improvements to computer technology over the years have given consumers the opportunity to do almost anything with a laptop, including providing musicians the option of producing entire albums without paying hefty studio fees.

These so-called “bedroom producers” are turning into some of the biggest artists in the world. Producers such as Flume, Ekali, Mura Masa and many more have made a name for themselves by producing chart-topping and platinum records primarily on a laptop.

This is the path that Western senior Alex Olson started traveling down about four years ago. Inspired by Mac Miller, he started producing beats for himself to rap on and now, producing under the name Fluencie, he has come a long way.

In just under a year, Fluencie has racked up more than half a million plays on SoundCloud and Spotify combined. His synth, vocal and bass-heavy sound has been sought out and released by the Artist Intelligence Agency as well as record labels such as Souletiquette, CAPS LOCK CREW, Chill Trap and more.

“Right now, I’ve been trying to push towards a more cross-platform sound,” Olson said. “It definitely starts as synth-based, but I’ve been trying to make more bass music.”

One of Fluencie’s most popular songs, “Take Me High”, was discovered by the Artist Intelligence Agency after a different song of his, “Lazy,” was reposted on a popular sound engineer’s Soundcloud page.

While Fluencie won’t be playing any shows over the summer, he has two new singles on the way — “Hold On” featuring Spencer Shangrow and “Joyride,” which will feature the vocals of singer (and Fluencie’s good friend) Natalia Aristides.

“I’ve always liked live singers. It’s been an integral part of my sound since the beginning,” Olson said.

“Joyride” will come complete with a music video that is currently being shot in New York.

“I like the song. I’m excited to share it with people and I hope people like it,” Olson said.

If you’re looking to catch Fluencie live, his next show will be at Seattle University on Sept. 24. Keep an eye out for his new singles dropping soon, and check out more of Fluencie’s music on his soundcloud here.

Sports

By Tyler Urke The percentage of women using the weight room in the Wade King Student Recreation Center has tripled in the last five to seven years, according to rec center fitness coordinator Ron Arnold. Weight room staff is also around 50 percent female. However, for some female Western students, the weight room has been nicknamed the “manquarium” because of its reputation of being mostly full of men and unwelcoming to others. Junior Deepika Verma has experienced unwanted attention in the weight room firsthand. She said one day she stood up after stretching and noticed a man staring directly at […]